


Five Nights

by LI0NH34RT



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Long-Distance Relationship, M/M, Sailor!Theo, Thiam
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-20
Updated: 2019-10-20
Packaged: 2020-12-27 00:04:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,386
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21109406
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LI0NH34RT/pseuds/LI0NH34RT
Summary: He couldn't believe his eyes.Right there on the bar sat the man that helped him survive the boredom and monotony of weeks at sea with nothing but clam clothes and clam sailors as companions. The man who possessed eyes, bluer than the sea.The man he had only seen once on the picture in his crew mate's heart shaped medallion...





	Five Nights

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Shatteeran](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shatteeran/gifts).

> 💙

The sun already set when the crew finished to moor the ship and Theo finally steps over the landing strake, slightly staggering on his feet as he tries to find his stepping again, getting used to unmoving ground after weeks on board.

  
Part of his pay heavy in his purse he turns around to take a look at the _Wanax_, slowly rocking in her place as the lights below deck are getting lit, creating a homey, warm glow that tints the whole sidewalk golden. Theo smiles, yes, his home is beautiful but it is still nice to be around other people again. His fellow sailors and Mariners are good people but life on the sea is rough and he yearns for conversations about things other than the weather and so Theo turns back around, making his way downtown with quick, expectant steps.

Liam Dunbar rocks on his feet, from the heels on the toes and back again, his gaze restlessly searching the crowd for the familiar chocolate brown hair of his girlfriend. The dawn was slowly turning into night when he got a glance of her face, looking around and clearly seeking out Liam.   
A big smile spreads on his cheeks as he lifts his hand, waving “Hayden! Over here!”  
The woman turns, her answering smile cut short a little as right next to her a reunited couple almost pushes her over in their joy.   
She steps around them, now moving towards Liam with more purpose.   
As soon as they are close enough he puts his arms around her, burying his head into her locks and breathing her in.  
“I missed you...”  
Hayden hugs him back but her arms feel hesitant.   
“Liam, we have to talk.”

The heat of humans, huddled together in the small tavern to eat and drink the night away, wafts around Theo as he opens the door, beautifully decorated with a piece of stained glass to form the picture of a over-dimensional beer mug.  
The ‘_Half Full_' is a pub very typical for the harbour district.  
The customers are mostly sailors like Theo himself or simple workers who want to enjoy a peaceful drink before going home to their wives and husbands. It is perfect.  
Theo quickly accesses the room, nothing that could disturb his first night off in sight, before he continues his way to the bar. A freshly poured glass of whiskey is calling his name.

Other than him only one man is inhabiting one of the stools in front of the bar.  
After giving Steve, the barman, his alcoholic choice of the night he turns to take a look at his companion by chance.  
Dark blonde hair, a light scruff in a slightly darker colour, tanned skin and...  
Impossible.

  


_..._

  
_“...And he is just so handsome!” _   
_Theo stops dead in his tracks, slowly turning around to Hayden and Tracy, two of the rare female marines on his ship._   
_An amused grin spreads over his face, “You talking about me, girls?”_   
_Tracy only rolls her eyes, she's used to his antics, but Hayden turns bright red. _

  
_“No! No... it's... my new boyfriend. I met him over that ‘Boys for Marines' site”, Theo is familiar with the concept of dating apps for lonely sailors though he never used them – too much distance doesn't work for him, he finds, “... just sent me that picture, look!”_   
_He concentrates on Hayden again as the woman holds out her phone to him. Ocean blue eyes stare up at him, breath taking even through the display. The young man who possesses the eyes is just as handsome. Unfair, really, how some people just seem to have it all._   
_On the other hand, this guy is searching for love on a dating app specialised on long distance so maybe there was something wrong with him after all..._   
_Tracy clears her throat and Theo notices that he is still staring at the picture, he can feel the heat rising to his face._   
_“Oh, yes. He looks good. How long have you guys been talking?”_

_The distraction works and Hayden launches herself into a happy monologue that allows Theo to nod and smile and try to get rid of the image that is burned into the back of his head. The shadow of ocean blue eyes._   
_Theo has always loved the ocean._

  
_..._

He couldn't believe his eyes.   
Right there on the bar sat the man that helped him survive the boredom and monotony of weeks at sea with nothing but clam clothes and clam sailors as companions. The man who possessed eyes, bluer than the sea.   
The man he had only seen once on the picture in his crew mate's heart shaped medallion...

The beer sitting on the counter top is his fourth but no amount of alcohol can fend off the emptiness that has taken hold of Liam's heart.  
He really looked forward to this day, preparing his body and soul for the first meeting with what he believed to be his soulmate. But nothing could have prepared him for those dreaded words.  
“I don't think we will work out. I am sorry.”

  


Months of talking on the phone at night, defying bad connections and storms all the same, weeks of longing until she finally said their ship would make it for the port of Liam's town, days of his nerves getting strung higher and higher, until, with those ten little words, everything fell apart around him.

Liam knows that he is a hopeless romantic. He knows it.

Wanted to tell him in person, she had said, to be completely honest. Liam would have preferred the safety of a phone call that could be ended every time to the cold certainty he saw in her eyes.

  


A man sits down next to him, giving his order with a pleasantly low voice that Liam appreciates.  
They sit in comfortable silence for a while until the stranger breaks it.

“First beer on land always tastes the best.”  
It's not like he is talking directly at Liam, he is probably not even expecting an answer but something in his voice gets Liam to lift his head.  
Blue eyes meet green.   
“It's the best beer in town", he says, making the other man smile.  
“Oh yeah? Well in that case I was very lucky to choose this pub, don't you think?”

  
This night is not at all how Theo thought his first time on land after weeks of only seeing the ship would go. Instead of nursing his beer and then going for a stroll around town, like it is tradition for every new city he visits, he finds himself with the third mug in front of him and deep in conversation with a man that he could only describe as the perfect match.  
Not that he was complaining.

  


~♤~

  


The next evening Theo also drinks three beers. But this time he is alone. He blames the alcohol from last night, that dizzy feeling in his head and the voice telling him to sleep being louder than any common sense could scream.   
He didn't get his number.  
Liam.

  
Curious, how he never asked Hayden after his name, or gave him a nickname in his head, with how much he used to fantasize about the man with the blue eyes.   
And now that fate decided to let them meet he didn't use his chance.  
Theo lifts his hand to ask for another beer.   
Maybe he will come back?

Liam leaves work late that day, he feels tired and sluggish after drowning his sorrows the evening before so it took him ages to get anything done on his current project. He is halfway home when the fresh night air has entangled his thoughts enough for him to remember the other thing about yesterday, the good thing.  
His mum always says that for each bad thing that happens there has to be a counterpart to keep the balance. The actions cancels each other, preserving the balance in life.

Hayden broke things up ten seconds into their first meeting in person – but at the pub he chose to drink his frustration away he met Theo.   
Theo.

  
He felt a weird pull towards the other man. They had known each other for one evening and they had been drunk for at least half the time but somehow it felt like so much longer.  
Liam quickens his steps, marching right past his house.

He isn't there. Of course not, how could he ever believe someone actually wanted to see him again? Especially after he had been so drunk.  
No, Liam is not the guy you come back for, the guy you make an effort to see. He had never been but somehow he hasn't given up hop yet.  
Shoulders sagged he makes his way to the bar and sits down on a stool just a little too high for him. Maybe it's his inelegant way of taking place that makes the beekeeper look up from his task of polishing glasses or maybe it’s just his general aura of despair and the hope for a good sell but either way his face lights up.

“Hey, are you Liam? I have a message for you!”

  


~♤~

  


His steps are light but Liam still turns around as soon as he comes close.  
“Theo”, he says relief evident in his voice, “you really came!”  
“I send you the message, didn't I?”, Theo smiles at him, “glad to see my little piece of paper found it's way to you.”  
Liam let's out a breathless laugh, “yeah, we got really lucky there... so, what do you want to do tonight?”

In the end it doesn't matter where they are and what they are doing because they talk without pause anyway, barely taking notice of their surroundings. Liam marvels at how easy conversation with Theo is, there are no awkward silences, no quiet moments when none of them knows what to say like there had been on his calls with Hayden.

  
Theo is astonished how much he talks when presented with an interesting dialogue partner. If his comrades could see him now they would surely think him to be drunk or drugged but Theo neither, he is simply in love.  
It sounds silly, even in his head, claiming to be in love after he had known this man for all but two days but he had been in love before, once, and he recognizes the flutter of his stomach every time Liam smiles at him, the grin on his own face that just doesn't want to vanish and most importantly, the warmth that wraps around him like a protective cocoon, keeping him safe from all the bad things in the world.  
Yes, Theo is falling.

“...So that is the reason why I was so late yesterday, we must have just missed each other.”  
Liam ends his story of unnecessary overtime and how he hurried to ‘their' pub only to find Theo gone by the time he got there.  
“That reminds me, I never asked – what are you doing for a living?”  
Theo swallows around nothing, a lump in his throat already forming as he looks up to catch Liam's eyes. This is it, the moment of truth he had been dreading ever since he found out who Liam is.   
“I am a marine, I sail with the _Wanax_ crew", he answers, quietly, almost as if he wants Liam to miss his words.

But Liam heard him.

  


~♤~

  


It hurts more than it should. Like Hayden all over again, only that it's somehow even worse now.   
This time, he fell fast and hard, all at once as Theo came into his life like a hurricane, bringing the fresh air he needed, turning his monotonous life upside down and leaving him a mess of feelings.  
Liam's heart beats in his throat and he tries to swallow it down unsuccessfully when it seems to cut off his air.

  
_Theo is leaving._   
_He never really was here._   
_Why is everyone always leaving me?_

  


  
Theo feels the cool night air on his face, closing his eyes to welcome the familiar smell of the sea. A smell he can't live without and misses dearly whenever he stays at land for too long.  
At 27, he has been sailing for nearly half his life now, first with his father and older sister, then with the marines. He knows every manoeuver, every grip and handle, he moves on the staggering ship like other people on stable ground. The sea is all he ever had and all he ever wanted – until now.

An empty bench comes into his path of walking and Theo takes place, facing the nightly harbour. It is dark and quiet, save for a few lonely lights, other humans that can't sleep, men and women who are just as lonely as their lights; just as lonely as Theo feels.  
He knows that this thought is silly, if he went home to his cabin it wouldn't be five minutes until Josh and Donovan come knocking to his door, inviting him to drink, play or simply offering their comradery. But somehow it isn't their company Theo wants; have their talks about the ship, work and left behind family been enough for the last years, they aren’t now, he longs for _more_.

  
Theo rises and begins walking again, this time with a purpose. A decision is made.

  
~♤~

  


“It's a beautiful view, isn't it?”, a voice from behind brings Liam back to reality, “I can't think of a better place to make my home.”  
Liam whirls around.  
And there he is, face turned seawards to watch the _Wanax_ make her way into the open sea.

“Theo?”, he asks, his voice almost too quiet, as if he doesn’t believe his own eyes, “I thought you left... Yo-your ship! They sailed without you!”

  
But Theo only smiles, he leans onto the quay wall, his eyes still not leaving the illuminated ship he called his home for so many years. He thinks of the familiar smell of wood and linen, the sound the waves make when they hit the bow and the rough voices of his fellow sailors. It is so far away now that he can't make out details on deck anymore.   
Then he turns to look at Liam, his smile unbearably happy.

  
“I am right where I want to be.”  



End file.
